


Just Before Dawn

by grimeysociety



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thor (Movies)
Genre: Animal Transformation, Darcy Lewis Is a Good Bro, Dogs, F/M, Fluff and Crack, Magical Realism, what even is this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-21
Updated: 2020-04-21
Packaged: 2021-03-02 03:21:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,151
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23768404
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/grimeysociety/pseuds/grimeysociety
Summary: One day, Darcy rescues a dog and then a gorgeous naked man appears in her living room that night.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Darcy Lewis
Comments: 72
Kudos: 279
Collections: Bucky Barnes Bingo 2020, Ladies of Marvel Bingo 2019, They turned me into a… but I got better





	Just Before Dawn

**Author's Note:**

> Hi... I... look, this is crack. This is crack. It's crack. It. Is. Crack. Do not take it seriously.
> 
> This was written for my Ladies of Marvel 2019 Bingo Square W5: "Feels like I have finally found a perfect love this time", and for my Bucky Barnes 2020 Bingo Square B3: "Isolated or Trapped". 
> 
> The title of this fic comes from a song by Sonnymoon.

_Don't go, tell me that the lights won't change,_  
_Tell me that you'll feel the same, and we'll stay here forever_  
**\- "Clair de Lune" by Flight Facilities**

Darcy’s first thought when she saw the white dog was the same thought she always had when she met a new dog.

_Oh, my God, you’re adorable, let’s be friends._

It wasn’t that Darcy was a dog person. She absolutely was, but she loved all animals, so much so that her heart squeezed when she spotted this little angel on the street outside her apartment building as she was on her way out to take the train to work.

“What’re you doing out here, buddy?” she murmured, crouching to inspect him.

He seemed to be healthy for a dog without a collar. He was large, muscular and glowing, with sky-blue eyes that stared into Darcy’s own eyes unflinchingly. His tail began to wag as she rubbed his flank.

“You got a name?” she murmured, and he sniffed her ear, before managing to lick her cheek, causing Darcy to giggle.

She stood back up, glancing around the street. Sometimes she saw dogs walked without a leash. She didn’t approve of it but knew plenty of people who rather let their dogs run around to return to their side as they walked. There was no-one else around who looked like the culprit, and Darcy bit her lip, unsure of what to do.

The dog then proceeded to jump up, his paws on her chest, trying to lick Darcy more, and Darcy pushed him back laughing at him.

“Cheeky –”

The dog took off and Darcy called after him.

“Hey!”

She was ignored, the canine breaking into a gallop as it turned the corner and out of sight. Darcy gave a little sigh, hoping he was fine. She’d rather he was taken to a shelter than roam free in the city, but she couldn’t see herself managing to catch him.

-

Darcy considered herself pretty level-headed, despite owning a taser she kept stowed in her handbag at all times. She was doing better than a few years ago. She wasn’t exactly trigger-happy, but there were some things that really made her act crazy.

Animal cruelty was one of them. She didn’t understand anyone who purposely hurt dogs. Sometimes she’d accidentally catch the last few minutes of a show on _Animal Planet_ that showed people being arrested for mistreatment of animals, and that never failed to make her guts churn and her heart rate to rise.

She was walking home when she heard the whining. It was a Saturday afternoon and it was Laundry Day. With the humid summer air making everything feel like velvet, Darcy yet again wished she had her own machine and dryer. She hefted the bag higher and craned her head, thinking maybe she’d imagined it. Perhaps the source was a TV, since many people had their windows open, since they didn’t have air-conditioners in their apartments.

She stopped walking altogether, dropping the heavy bag to her side and panted, listening out.

There it was again, a plaintive whining coming from somewhere behind her. She glanced up, seeing a brick wall. Whatever animal that was whining may have heard her or smelt her over the wall. Darcy approached the wall, assessing.

She wasn’t tall. She had the little stepladder at home to prove it. She took a deep breath and jumped as high as she could, grabbing hold of the edge and straining to pull herself up.

She groaned, being reminded of something she already knew. Her upper-body strength was really lacking. She could feel fresh sweat collect on her back and forehead as she pulled herself up on shaking limbs, slumping over the edge of the wall.

It looked like a junkyard, broken down boxes, plastic bags and other trash flung around. She squinted around, her eyes falling to the whining that started up again.

“Oh, my God,” she gasped.

It was the dog, the same white Pitbull she’d come across a few days ago. It had to be the same one, it looked just like it. She could see his blue eyes shining up at her when he spotted her.

He looked roughed up. There was an ugly gash that began above his right eye and went diagonally across his nose and down to just above his mouth. Darcy took in the cut and the chain wrapped around his neck, her eyes following it to the bolt he was secured to. He had an empty bowl in front of him with no water to accompany it.

Darcy shifted slightly, thinking. There was no way she was going to let this go. She didn’t know if he belonged to the person who tied him up, but he couldn’t stay there.

If she took a longer pause to think, she probably would have phoned the police, but instead, Darcy put up a hand, calling to the dog.

“Hey, hey, buddy.”

The whining started up again and Darcy felt her heart squeeze in her chest.

“Baby, I’m so sorry,” she whispered. She took a deep breath. “I’ll come right back, I promise. Hang in there.”

She jumped back down, almost toppling over as she landed awkwardly. She picked up her bag of laundry and jogged off to her apartment, dumping her clothes before racing back down to the foyer. She rose a hand to knock on her landlord’s office.

When Gary finally opened the door, he glared down at her with a sports section he’d fashioned into a fan. Darcy tried to not visibly react to his B.O. and instead flashed a grateful smile.

“Do you have a set of bolt cutters?”

“Who wants to know?” he grunted.

“Me. Please. It’s an emergency,” Darcy said. “Please, Gary. I promise I’ll bring them back right away.”

Gary stared at her for several long seconds, probably thinking about the chances of her committing some type of crime. She was planning to, but he didn’t have to know that, and he didn’t seem to suspect such a thing when he finally handed them over, putting a hand on his enormous hip.

“Bring ‘em back right away,” he said.

“Thank you,” Darcy said, taking them from him. “Thank you so, so much. You’re –you’re an angel.”

“Yeah, yeah,” he muttered, but he smiled a little at her.

Darcy ran back out of the building, hoping she hadn’t made the wrong decision to leave the dog behind, even if it was for a few minutes. She reached the wall again and hoisted herself back up, groaning with the effort.

“Oh, for Christ’s sake, it’s not that – _hard_ , Lewis,” she gasped, managing to get high enough up to nearly topple face-first down the other side. She fumbled the bolt cutters and pushed the hair out of her face, glancing around the scene in front of her.

She couldn’t hear any life beyond, and she hoped no-one was about to tear out of the back door. She took a deep breath and swung her legs over. She dropped to the ground, wincing on impact, hoping it wasn’t too loud. She raced over to the dog, shushing him when he began to whine again.

“Let’s get this bit…”

She managed to put the metal chain around his neck between the cutters and pressed down hard, snapping the metal cleanly, an instant relief following the motion.

“Okay, okay…”

She knew she needed to be fast, getting back up, gesturing to the dog to follow her. He managed to dash over to the wall, barking. There was no way he could jump. Darcy’s heart raced as she tried to think of a solution, her eyes falling on some of the flattened boxes. There was a piece of rotted timber on the ground and she picked it up, resting it against the wall.

She glanced at the dog, then the back door. She didn’t know how much time had passed but she was sure she had no time at all to stall.

“Okay, baby, up? Can you jump up?”

She patted the ramp she’d made and the dog jumped with some difficulty. He seemed so much weaker than the first time she saw him, but he managed to walk up the ramp. He sat on the wall, staring down at Darcy. She followed after him with the bolt cutters in one hand, her other hand out to keep her balance. She shoved the ramp to the ground with a bang and she took another second to swing her legs back over and then fall back down to the side street on the other side.

The dog followed, stumbling and falling to its side.

“Good boy, good boy,” Darcy whispered. “Let’s go.”

With some difficulty, she managed to pick him up, carrying him back to her apartment building. She was covered in sweat by the time she got there, but she was so caught up in the rescue that she didn’t care. She was so happy he was safe.

She put him down on the floor when she reached the stairwell, putting a finger to her lips. He was panting and wagging his tail up at her, following her as she moved up the stairs to her apartment. She let them in, his nails clicking on the wooden floors as she led him to the kitchen and took out a mixing bowl to fill with water.

He shoved his face into the bowl and drank, water sloshing onto the floor in his enthusiasm, and Darcy moved to the fridge to see if there was anything he could eat in the meantime.

“Maybe…”

She glanced down at him, as he’d stopped drinking and was watching her, panting still. She bit her lip, turning the package of uncooked chicken breasts in her hand.

“You want chicken?”

He barked.

“Hey,” she chided, shoving the chicken back in the fridge. “I can give you bread for now.”

He ate several slices in several gulps on the floor as Darcy took out her phone to look at shelters online. She was worried about that gash on his face.

She knelt beside him, taking hold of his face to assess the cut close-up. His eyes seemed to bore into hers and Darcy sighed.

“You’re gonna hate me, but I need to clean this.”

She could take him to a vet tomorrow, and maybe they’d take him to a shelter. The longer he was in her apartment, though, the less likely it felt that she’d be parting ways with him.

She gave Gary back the bolt cutters and returned to find the dog on her sofa, watching the TV she’d left on earlier. He perked up when she walked over to him.

“Okay. Now we clean your face.”

There was a lot of wriggling and trying to fight her off when she attempted to dab at his face with some antiseptic. At least he wasn’t trying to bite her or scratch her. He gave her a long stare when she pulled away from him with a sigh, the cotton bud still in her hand.

“I know it hurts, baby, but you don’t want it to get infected.”

He licked his chops, tilting his head.

“Don’t give me that.”

She managed to clean the cut and she left him alone on the couch as she went to toss out the used cotton bud. She glanced at her phone’s clock and thought aloud:

“Maybe we’ll have dinner early.”

She started cutting the fat from the chicken breasts before cubing the meat and threw them in a pot with water to boil. She didn’t have any interest in eating chicken this way, deciding already that she’d either have toast or cereal for dinner instead. After a couple minutes, she heard his nails scratching the floor as he joined her, circling the kitchen.

“Not too long until dinner,” she murmured.

She looked down at him and his tail began to wag. She smiled at him, crouching to meet his face.

“You’re too cute,” she whispered. “Who could do that to you, huh? Who’d tie you up like that?”

It broke her heart, since she had no idea how long he’d been there, the sun beating down on him with no water and that cut on his face.

He licked her chin and Darcy chuckled.

“Wonder what your name is…”

She stood back up while the dog guarded her on the kitchen floor, listening out to the sounds of Darcy’s neighbors coming and going. Darcy drained the chicken and put it in a bowl, refilling the water to pass the time.

When the chicken had cooled enough, she added some rice she’d prepared earlier in the microwave, mixing it together. She filled another bowl with the meal and sat it on the floor in front of him.

The dog glanced up, blinking at Darcy with his head tilted.

“Go ahead,” she said. “I don’t want any.”

He licked his chops again before diving in, eating quietly but fast while Darcy prepared her peanut butter and jelly toast.

She ate on the couch with the dog beside her, watching old music videos on her phone. She glanced at him next to her, his nose close to her screen as he sniffed it with interest.

“Do you like Michael Jackson?” she murmured. “This song’s really underrated. Everyone’s always talking about Thriller, which yeah, it’s iconic – but _You Rock My World_ is amazing.”

_I've searched for the perfect love all my life_

_All my life_

_Ooh feels like_

_I have finally found a perfect love this time_

“Yeah?” she murmured, when the dog licked her wrist, going back to watching the video with her.

He eventually fell asleep and Darcy was filled with a warmth of pure joy at the sight of him tuckered out beside her. The sun had begun to set and she got up to go to the bathroom while she decided what movie she might watch while she sorted through her laundry she’d thrown aside earlier.

When she walked back into the living room, somewhat distracted, it took her an extra second to realize what had changed in the few minutes she’d been away.

Instead of finding the dog lying on the couch, his eyes closed, she found a man with long brown hair and bronzed skin, completely naked and curled on his side.

Darcy let out a scream and the man startled awake as Darcy fell backwards, shuffling toward her hand bag with her eyes glued to his.

“Whoa, wait – wait!” he yelled, his hands up.

His eyes ducked for a second as he realized he wasn’t wearing any clothes, and he grabbed the blanket slung over the back of the couch to cover himself as Darcy gaped at him.

“Listen, it’s not – it’s –”

“What the fuck?” Darcy squawked. “Did you come in through the window? I was gone for, like, a second…”

She pulled her taser out of her bag, brandishing it.

“Don’t come any closer! I also have mace.”

That second part was a lie, but he didn’t need to know that. She used to have mace, until she got it confiscated when she was in college. There’d been a whole _thing_ with her mistaking her roommate’s boyfriend for an intruder. It didn’t help the situation that the same guy was also Darcy’s boyfriend at the time. She still preferred that to this terrifying situation.

“I’m stayin’ still,” he said, hands up. “Can I explain?”

“I’ll ask the questions!” Darcy snapped. “What are you doing in my apartment, asshole? Trespass much? Or are you some kind of peeper and decided to surprise me when I came back?”

She looked around, not seeing the dog anywhere.

“And where’s the dog?”

He swallowed, eyes still wide like Darcy’s were.

“I can explain,” he said slowly, carefully.

“Are you on drugs?” Darcy added. “Because I don’t have anything valuable for you to pawn, except maybe my very fake pearls in my bedroom.”

“I’m not gonna rob you,” he said.

He had a Brooklyn accent. Darcy kept her hand tightly wrapped around her taser as she narrowed her eyes at him, wondering if he’d try to rush her.

“I will tase you if you come near me,” she hissed. “But you’ve got sixty seconds.”

“I don’t think sixty seconds will cover –”

“Fifty-seven, fifty-six,” Darcy cut in.

The man pulled in a breath, starting over.

“My name is Bucky. I woke up here. I know this sounds nuts, but I got in here because you brought me here earlier, from the asshole who tied me up this morning. I… I have this power.”

“What?” Darcy whispered. “Oh, you’re _definitely_ on drugs.”

“I’m not, I swear. I just…”

He gave a long sigh, looking at the ceiling for a second.

“I turn into a dog at sunrise,” he said.

Darcy stared at him with her mouth open for several seconds and Bucky bit his lip, waiting. Darcy’s brain and mouth seemed a little out of sync as she tried to babble more than one sentence at a time:

“I – you’re _saying that_ – sorry, but you totally are on drugs. _You’re on drugs_ , you broke into my place and passed out – is that -? I mean, most people with psychosis don’t know it’s happening, I think… I’m _calling the police_ –”

He sat up a little, moving to stand up from the couch.

“No, please. I can leave. I’m sorry to intrude,” he began, but Darcy got up, aiming the taser at him between her two hands.

“Don’t touch me,” she said.

“I wasn’t gonna,” he said. “But you saved me earlier, I wanna say thank you for helping me.”

Darcy kept very still, Bucky doing the same.

“Thank you.”

She blinked. “How am I supposed to believe you didn’t just watch me rescue that dog before and then followed me home?”

“I dunno,” he said. “I’ll leave.”

“If you’re so certain you turn into that adorable pooch at dawn, you’re staying here. I don’t trust you otherwise,” Darcy snarled. “You’ll come back with your buddies.”

“Right, because you said there were so many valuable things here to steal,” he muttered, and Darcy’s brows rose at his attitude.

“Sit.”

He obeyed, sinking into the couch wordlessly. Darcy folded her arms, still holding onto her taser, scanning him. He had a diagonal gash across his nose like the dog had. He had blue eyes like the dog, too.

She thought for a second that maybe she had a gas leak, but then figured that she’d be _trying_ to find similarities between Bucky and the dog, like when a person had a tarot reading and everything seemed to match up without much effort because it was _exactly_ what they were looking for.

“What’s your name?” he asked, and Darcy glared at him.

“I ask the questions. Your name’s Bucky?”

He nodded. Darcy couldn’t ignore that he was an undeniably handsome guy, even though he’d be so outrageous to just let himself into her apartment. He had nice cheekbones with a full lower lip and those intensely blue eyes…

“What kind of name is Bucky?”

“Short for Buchanan,” he said. “My middle name.”

“What’s your full name, then?”

“James Buchanan Barnes,” he said. “What’s your name?”

“Darcy – _hey!_ Shut up,” she snapped.

She moved a little closer, still pointing the weapon at him, hoping she wouldn’t actually have to use it. She wasn’t sure how much longer she could keep up this tough act, when she was pretty tired, and it wasn’t her natural state.

“I’m sorry, really,” he said. “I didn’t mean to fall asleep. I hoped I’d at least get out a window or something when your back was turned. I’m usually alone when I change.”

“That’s convenient, you being all by yourself when you ‘change’,” Darcy muttered, doing air-quotes.

“Well, yeah,” Bucky said.

“How long have you been a reverse werewolf, Bucky Barnes?” Darcy said, putting her hands on her hips.

He frowned, passing a hand through his long hair. If it were any other situation, Darcy would appreciate the view, since he looked so focused and goddamn _pretty_ when he did it.

“Reverse -?”

“Reverse werewolf,” Darcy said with a nod. “How long?”

“Few years.”

“How’d it happen?” she asked.

“Experiments,” he said, something passing over his face as he averted his gaze, remembering. He went quiet, biting his lip and then releasing it. “I got out, but it’s been hard.”

Darcy drew in a breath. Crazy and good-looking and naked in her apartment. Not the best combination, but it sounded like something that would happen to her.

“I don’t wanna be rude,” he said, his eyes swinging up to meet hers. “But I could use some pants.”

Darcy hesitated, before sighing.

“Alright, come with me.”

She motioned he get up and he obliged, wrapping the blanket around his middle, turning his back on her to walk down the hallway to her bedroom.

“Okay. Don’t move,” she said, and she snuck past him with her taser aloft, not taking her eyes off of him as she crouch to grab something from her drawers.

She tossed the old flannel pants at him that she found and he caught them in one hand, looking down at them. They were a pair she borrowed from an ex and never returned, since they were so soft she didn’t have the heart to give them back.

She then had the thought that she heard nothing when she went to the bathroom, no window opening, or her front door. Maybe he’d just been quiet when he snuck in, but she couldn’t figure out how he managed to get rid of the dog silently, either…

“Are you gonna turn around?”

Darcy’s eyes snapped to his and she blinked at him, the words taking a few seconds to sink in, before she felt her face blush and she averted her gaze to the floor.

“No, I’ll just look away.”

She didn’t want her back to him. She kept her eyes glued to the floor as she sensed him moving in front of her, dropping the blanket on the floor before he stepped into the pants and pulled them on.

“Okay,” he said, and Darcy looked at him, seeing he, too, had gone red.

“Get out.”

He did as he was told, walking back to the couch in the living room and sitting down. Darcy glanced at the TV, wondering what to do next.

“I was gonna watch a movie,” she said.

“Okay,” he said again.

She pulled up Netflix, putting on something she’d already seen before. She picked up the taser again, pointing it at him.

“I’m folding my laundry and putting it in piles on the floor,” she said, and he nodded.

She worked quickly, the sounds from the movie filling the tense silence between them. Every so often there were sounds from the other apartments. She knew that her screaming before probably wouldn’t raise any eyebrows among all the other life in this building. That didn’t fill her with a lot of confidence, but Bucky didn’t seem to be making any move to leave, or attack her.

She sat on the floor, her eyes on Bucky while he watched the TV. Every couple minutes, he’d glance her way and lift his chin slightly or blink and Darcy would feel her cheeks flush under his gaze.

She started another movie as soon as the first finished, and Bucky settled further into the couch, rubbing his eyes.

“Are you gonna fall asleep?” she asked, and he glanced at her, a small smile forming despite her hostility.

“Yeah…”

He was true to his word, falling asleep within the first twenty minutes of _Serenity_ , and Darcy felt something loosen in her chest when she heard the first soft snore from his spot on the couch. She got up and stretched, before sitting back down on the floor.

She should call the police now while he was out of it. She hesitated, her thumb hovering over the keypad of her phone. She tensed as he suddenly shifted, turning a little to lay on his side like he was when she first saw him, except this time he was wearing pants.

He had long lashes and dark circles under his eyes. She hoped he wasn’t on drugs and running himself ragged.

She Googled when sunrise was meant to be tomorrow morning. 6.30 AM. It was still hours and hours away, but it was a Sunday, so Darcy could do an all-nighter. It wouldn’t be the first time…

No. That was insane. She wasn’t about to enable this guy and play along with his delusion. She chewed her nail, thinking.

She decided that she’d stay up until the sunrise, and then once it passed, she’d call the police and tell them what had happened.

She watched more movies, more TV shows, then the late news and the weird re-runs after midnight. The episode of _MacGyver_ that came on had Terri Hatcher in it.

At one point around three AM, she heard Bucky draw in a deep breath and she snapped her eyes toward him, picking up her taser once more. He rubbed an eye, taking in his surroundings.

“Not sunrise yet,” Darcy said.

“What time is it?”

“3-something,” she mumbled, picking up her coffee mug and draining it.

He settled back down again, looking flatter. His eyes drooped and he went back to sleep. Darcy’s eyes fell to the dense muscle of his arm. He was in really good shape, considering the state he was in. She tore her eyes away finally to watch more TV.

Darcy jolted awake, upending her empty coffee mug. It toppled to the floor, mercifully keeping intact as it landed and rolled onto its side. She picked it up, looking over at Bucky.

He was sleeping, and when she checked her phone, she read it was after 6AM.

She readied herself for calling the authorities, preparing a speech for any questions they have, like – why the hell had she let him stay?

In all honesty, she’d felt sorry for him. She was afraid of him and didn’t trust him, but she didn’t want to be cruel. She kept rotating the same three apps on her phone, checking the time.

It got to 6:25 and she couldn’t keep still, her guts twisting as she paced, wondering how she’d go through with this – kicking this guy out of her apartment, when he was probably deeply troubled. It wasn’t like her to judge, but he’d scared her shitless. Some part of her knew that she was going easy on him because he was easy on the eyes, which was beyond stupid of her. It made her a pretty easy target that way.

She settled on the floor, her knee jiggling with nerves as she waited. He’d wake up and she’d tell him he had to go. Or maybe he’d punch her lights out and take the TV and the few notes in her purse.

God, she should’ve just called the cops last night. This was insane, weighing up whether this stranger was worth her losing her cards in her purse or her crappy TV.

She heard him take a deep breath and her eyes focused on his face. Any second now, he’d be blinking away sleep…

He tensed, and then the most extraordinary thing happened – he seemed to curl in on himself, his whole body beginning to shrink. He grunted, only for the sound to morph into a deep growl, and then Darcy saw fur sprout and Bucky disappeared. She stared and stared as the dog from yesterday sat up, his back legs stuck in the pants Bucky was wearing moments ago.

Darcy blinked at him, his eyes meeting hers. His tail began to wag and she let out a little squeal.

“Bucky? Bucky!” she said, and he bounced over to her, barking as Darcy felt her eyes well with tears. She put her hands on either side of his face. “Can you understand me?”

He didn’t answer her with words but lifted a paw to touch her leg, licking her wrist.

“Maybe I’m actually losing it,” she whispered. “Maybe I lost it for real… God… Bucky…”

He licked her face.

“I’m sorry I didn’t believe you,” she whispered. “Why am I crying? Maybe it’s ‘cause I’m so tired…”

She got up, finally turning off the TV. She picked up her phone and gestured to Bucky.

“Come on, bud. We’ll go to bed for a little while.”

Darcy didn’t sleep. She lay on her side with Bucky lying next to her, watching the window. He seemed alert and she laughed at how serious he was, before she remembered what he said last night.

“Who did this to you?”

She petted his flank and he looked down at her, giving a little whine.

“I’ve got so many questions,” she whispered. She picked up her phone, checking the time. “I think we need to buy some stuff first, though.”

She ended up going to Petco alone, trying to be the fastest she’d ever been in a store. She jogged around, grabbing toys and necessities. She got to the register before she remembered the food and raced back to grab a huge bag of the fancy, scientifically formulated kind of kibble that set her back quite a bit, but she wasn’t going to feed him garbage.

She returned home, arms full with the food and the other plastic carrier bags digging into her arms as she made her way indoors, panting as she set down everything in front of Gary’s office again.

There was a grumble and then the door opened, his glare fading when he realized it was Darcy waiting to see him.

“Hi,” he said, frowning. His brows lifted at her haul. “Did you get a dog?”

“He sorta got me,” Darcy said, a little breathless. “Quick question. Shoot me down if it’s a little too weird, but have you had any complaints about people seeing or hearing… uh, weird… shit?”

Gary frowned again, confused. “What?”

“I mean, like, has anyone had any concerns about gas leaks?” she said.

“No…” Gary said slowly. “You need a maintenance guy up there to check?”

“Please. ASAP,” Darcy said, flashing a grin. She scooped up her things again and moved to take the stairs, only for Gary to take the bag of dog food for her. She flashed another smile.

He left her at her front door, promising to get someone to see if there was any leak. Darcy opened the front door and Bucky came bounding out, barking up at her.

“I’m back, I’m back,” she said, smiling down at him. “You wanna go for a walk?”

She left the apartment with him, wearing his new harness and leash, her bag full of treats and some toys. They walked all the way to the park, met several other dogs, and played fetch.

“Bucky, if you want me to treat you differently, you’ll have to let me know,” she murmured.

She was pretty sure another owner overheard her by the look on her face, but she didn’t care. Bucky only tilted his head at her, wagging his tail. She picked up one of his tennis balls and threw it for him to fetch, the conversation dropped.

When they returned to the apartment building, Gary stopped her halfway up the stairs.

“I went in myself with the detector my buddy loaned me,” he called. “Maybe you had, uh, a little too much fun last night.”

“Probably,” Darcy said.

She didn’t care if he thought she was smoking all sorts of things, she always paid her rent on time and rarely kicked up a fuss. She threw a little smile over her shoulder.

“Thanks, Gary.”

“No problem, Darcy.”

For the rest of the day, Bucky didn’t leave her side. She kept glancing at the clock, knowing that eventually the sun would be going down, and then…

What if it turned out to be a dream? She’d have to write it all down one day if that was the case. She loved Bucky the dog. That felt pretty instantaneous and she’d never regret it. She always fell for pets hard and fast.

She put a frozen pizza in the oven and gave Bucky his dinner. She ate in the kitchen with him, leaning against the bench as Bucky watched her.

“You want some?” she murmured, and she pulled a corner off a piece and he stood up on hind legs to eat it sloppily, Darcy chuckling at his enthusiasm.

She checked her phone again, putting the piece down on her plate. It hit her then that it had been getting darker outside.

“Bucky,” she said, crouching in front of him.

They only stared at one another for a long moment, and then Darcy whispered:

“God, I hope I’m not crazy…”

She didn’t stop holding him, not when he shut his eyes, his back bowing. She held his face in her hands through it all, even when she was certain her eyes were about to pop out of her head.

It was him, it was the man. It was Bucky again, his two, big blue eyes so close to hers that they became one, and she pressed her forehead to his.

“Darcy,” he breathed.

She pulled him into a hug, wrapping her arms around his bare shoulders.

-

Over the next few days, she managed to learn more about him.

He was roaming the neighborhood when he was taken off the street by the guy Darcy stole him from. He'd cut Bucky after he bit him and tried to run away.

Bucky was in the Army when he was experimented on. He was the only subject to survive the brutal testing process. He was able to accommodate to the serum, changing his body into a dog’s during the day, before slipping back into his normal, human form at night.

It was actually a flaw. He meant to transform into some type of hybrid, wolf and man, but he’d only managed a domesticated dog.

He escaped a few years ago after years of capture. He’d lived on the streets. He’d be taken in and then escape. He’d managed to not transform in front of people for the most part. Unfortunately, there were some homeless people who witnessed it… only run the other way.

She told him he could stay as long as he wanted. She loved having a dog, but she knew it was more than that. She wanted him to have dignity, but he insisted that during the day, he was happiest with her. He liked being a dog when he was one.

“Makes things way simpler,” he said, mouth full of fries when he’d transformed into his human form not five minutes before.

It took a few weeks for Darcy to take any of his flirting seriously. They were roommates, really. He was getting better at not being naked in front of her by accident.

It was several weeks into the most bonkers summer of Darcy’s life, when Bucky took hold of her chin and pulled her into a kiss.

“This okay?” he whispered, when he’d pulled back a little. He was searching her face for a confirmation.

It was all a little too much. Being this close to him made it harder to push him away.

“I keep thinking about that day you rescued me,” he said, and Darcy blinked up at him, having backed into the sink.

He was wearing the new clothes she’d bought him from Target. Simple threads that he wore way too well, considering by day he rolled around in the grass at the dog park. He scrubbed up well whenever he transformed. It was like he worked all day and came home, when actually he’d been there the whole time. Darcy was usually the one to come back from work, dragging aching feet.

“Yeah?”

“You’re my person,” he said, and Darcy rolled her eyes. “Okay, bad joke…”

“You cock your leg to pee at the park,” Darcy said, and they both chuckled.

“I might do that as a human, too, you don’t that I don’t,” he murmured. He swallowed. “I love you.”

Darcy felt her eyes mist. “I love you, too.”

He traced her bottom lip with his thumb.

“But as like -?”

“It’s different when I’m a dog, Darce,” he laughed. “I wanna kiss you, but it’s not the same. I promise I love you as a human. _Human_ to _human_.”

Darcy smiled into another kiss, sighing as she closed her eyes.

-

“I know you can understand me, you little shit,” she whispered to Bucky, when he was wagging his tail at her, a year later, waiting for her to give him his breakfast.

He gave her a sloppy lick on her chin when he managed to reach her face as he jumped up.

“Ugh, gross…”

**Author's Note:**

> White Wolf? More like White Woof, amirite.... I'll see myself out.
> 
> [my Tumblr](http://grimeysociety.tumblr.com/)


End file.
